Midian Oppresses Israel

 

Judges 6:1-10

 

Midian Oppresses Israel

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.   And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian, the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.  For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.   They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.   For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in.   And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.

When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.   And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.   And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”

 

As you read the book of the Judges it sounds like a broken record, the people chased after the false gods of this world, they put faith in them and worship at their altars.  God gave them what they were chasing after and the enemies of God make them slaves.  The people cry out to God and He forgave them and sent a Judge to lead them back to Him, but they keep repeating this hunger for the little gods that cannot see, nor hear, that are not able to give life, or peace, or joy.

 

And you and I say boy are they stupid, and never reflect on ourselves, never ask the question of the person in the mirror where are you putting your hope.  But if there was ever a season for you who go by the name of Christian to stop and ask a few questions to that face you see each day in the mirror, it should be now.

 

Maybe I’ve been the guy that needs the mirror the most, for this season of the pandemic and seeing the masses looking to the little gods of the mask and social distancing, science, and fear of death.  I am so foolish to believe that God has numbered my days before one of them was and putting my trust in Him.  To believe that Proverbs 3:5-7, is where my faith should be and to seek the Lord and His will for my life.  So, call me a fool, but I’m God’s fool, and I’ve yet to find in the Bible, where I am to put my faith in man, but in the Lord.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice